Native bi-directional communication for hardware management

ABSTRACT

A communication system includes a storage operable to host an operating system and a management controller configured to directly communicate with the operating system. The management controller directly communicates with the operating system through a communication channel free of an intermediate agent. The management controller is operable to asynchronously send management information to the operating system over the communication channel. The management controller is also operable to asynchronously receive management information from the operating system over the communication channel.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to and is a continuation ofco-owned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/971,538 filedDec. 17, 2010 (attorney docket no. 16356.1240), the disclosure of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to information handlingsystems, and more particularly to communication between an operatingsystem and a management controller.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generallyprocesses, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data forbusiness, personal, or other purposes. Because technology andinformation handling needs and requirements may vary between differentapplications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allowfor IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific usesuch as financial transaction processing, airline reservations,enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs mayinclude a variety of hardware and software components that may beconfigured to process, store, and communicate information and mayinclude one or more computer systems, data storage systems, andnetworking systems.

Information handling systems provide important network services forenterprises and individuals. To improve reliability of networks, IHSsoften include management controllers, such as baseboard managementcontrollers (BMC), that support off-line management functions. Forexample, a management controller typically supports remote power up andpower down of a server system as well as remote maintenance. A BMC mayalso monitor the health of its host IHS by collecting information frominternal sensors. The BMC makes the collected information available tothe host operating system and remotely connected management consoles.Traditionally, remote management consoles have depended on agentsinstalled in the host OS to periodically query the BMC for hardwareinformation. These agents initiated and managed the majority ofcommunications between the host OS and the BMC. However, dependence uponOS-present agents is not ideal. First, agents must be written for eachOS and then updated as the OS is updated. Second, agents consume IHSresources. For example, an agent must continuously run in the backgroundof the OS as it periodically polls the BMC for hardware faults.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved system andmethod for communication between management controllers and operatingsystems.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a communication system includes a storageoperable to host an operating system, and a management controllerconfigured to directly communicate with the operating system through acommunication channel free of an intermediate agent, wherein themanagement controller is operable to asynchronously send managementinformation to the operating system over the communication channel, andasynchronously receive management information from the operating systemover the communication channel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of amanaged system including an information handling system.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of various communication paths inthe managed system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method of logging ahardware failure in the managed system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a high-level flowchart illustrating an alternative method oflogging a hardware failure in the managed system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method of updatingoperating system network information in the managed system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system (IHS)may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalitiesoperable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve,originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce,handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data forbusiness, scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes. Forexample, an IHS may be a personal computer, a PDA, a consumer electronicdevice, a display device or monitor, a network server or storage device,a switch router or other network communication device, or any othersuitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality,and price. The IHS may include memory, one or more processing resourcessuch as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software controllogic. Additional components of the IHS may include one or more storagedevices, one or more communications ports for communicating withexternal devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, suchas a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The IHS may also includeone or more buses operable to transmit communications between thevarious hardware components.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of amanaged system 100 including an information handling system (IHS) 102.IHS 102 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 104 coupled to achipset 106. In other embodiments, IHS 102 may include multipleprocessors for simultaneous processing. Chipset 106 may be providedusing a chipset that includes two or more parts. For example, chipset106 may include a Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) and an I/OController Hub (ICH), or may include a Northbridge and a Southbridge. InIHS 102, programs and data are stored on a mass storage device 108,which is coupled to CPU 104. Examples of mass storage devices mayinclude hard discs, optical disks, magneto-optical discs, solid-statestorage devices, and/or a variety other mass storage devices known inthe art. A system memory 110 is coupled to CPU 104 to provide theprocessor with fast storage to facilitate execution of computer programsby CPU 104. Examples of system memory may include random access memory(RAM) devices such as dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM),solid state memory devices, and/or a variety of other memory devicesknown in the art. In an embodiment, the IHS 102 includes anon-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., the storage 108, thememory 110, etc) that may include computer-readable instructions that,when executed, cause the CPU 104 to perform a variety of functions. IHS102 further includes a video controller 112 coupled to CPU 104, whichmay output video signals to a display (not illustrated). Additionally,IHS 102 includes a network interface card (NIC) 114 coupled to CPU 104.NIC 114 may be an add-in card, disposed on a main circuit board (e.g., abaseboard, a motherboard, or any combination thereof), integrated ontoanother component such as chipset 106, or any combination thereof. Inthe current embodiment, NIC 114 provides IHS 102 with networkconnectivity through an Ethernet interface, but alternatively NIC 114may implement other networking standards such as Fibre Channel andInfiniBand. IHS 102 also includes a basic input and output system (BIOS)module 118 coupled to chipset 106 via an I/O channel. BIOS 118 caninclude BIOS code operable to detect and identify resources within IHS102, provide the appropriate drivers for those resources, initializethose resources, and access those resources. IHS 102 further includes aLAN-on-motherboard (LOM) network device 120 coupled to chipset 106 via aPeripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) connection 122. LOM 120provides further network connectivity to IHS 102. To provide intelligentrouting of network traffic, LOM 120 includes a processor that executesfirmware stored in an internal computer readable medium.

IHS 102 further includes a management controller 124, which may be asystem-on-chip on a main circuit board (e.g., a baseboard, amotherboard, or any combination thereof), integrated onto anothercomponent such as chipset 106, a separate add-in card, or anycombination thereof. Management controller 124 may be a baseboardmanagement controller (BMC), an integrated Dell remote access controller(iDRAC), another out-of-band (OOB) controller, or any combinationthereof. Management controller 124 includes a service processor,random-access memory (RAM), and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM). Informationstored in the NVRAM is not lost when management controller 124 losespower. Further, management controller 124 may be on a separate powerplane from the other components in IHS 102, so that managementcontroller 124 can be operated while other portions of IHS 102 arepowered off.

Management controller 124 includes a plurality of interfaces tofacilitate connection to other components in IHS 102. In the currentembodiment, management controller 124 includes a media access control(MAC) interface, a Keyboard Control Style (KCS) interface, and a serialinterface. The serial interface may be one of a Inter-Integrated Circuit(I²C) interface, a System Management Bus (SMBus) interface, a SerialPeripheral Interface (SPI) interface, a Universal Asynchronous ReceiverTransmitter (UART), or any other suitable interface known in the art.These interfaces physically connect management controller 124 to anumber of data busses in IHS 102. Specifically, the MAC interfaceconnects to a network controller side band interface (NC-SI) bus 126,thereby coupling management controller 124 to LOM 120. The NC-SI bus 126may be implemented as a SMBus, a Reduced Media Independent Interface(RMII) bus, or any other suitable bus. In the current embodiment, theNC-SI bus 126, LOM 120, and PCIe connection 122 together comprise a datapath known as an operating system-baseboard management controllerpass-through (OS-BMC Pass-through). Additionally, the managementcontroller's KCS interface connects to a KCS interface bus 127, therebycoupling management controller 124 to chipset 106. The KCS interface bus127 may be implemented as a Low Pin Count (LPC) bus, or any othersuitable bus. Finally, the serial interface connects to a serial bus128, thereby coupling management controller 124 to BIOS 118 and thuschipset 106. The serial bus 128 may be implemented as a I²C bus, SPIbus, or any other suitable bus. While a particular management controllerhas been described, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatthe management controller may include additional and/or different datainterfaces without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.And one of ordinary skill in the art may also recognize that additionaland/or different internal data buses may couple management controller124 to other components in IHS 102.

In an embodiment, a chassis 130 houses some or all of the components ofIHS 102. It should be understood that IHS 102 may include additionalcomponents such as input devices or disk controllers and that additionalbuses and intermediate circuits may be deployed between the componentsdescribed above and CPU 104 to facilitate internal communication.

In managed system 100, IHS 102 is coupled to a network 132 via NIC 114and LOM 120. Network 132 may be implemented as, or may be a part of, astorage area network (SAN), personal area network (PAN), local areanetwork (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network(WAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a virtual private network(VPN), an intranet, the Internet or any other appropriate architectureor system that facilitates the communication of data. Managementstations 134 are coupled to IHS 102 through network 132 and may beinformation handling systems operable to receive data from andcommunicate data to IHS 102 via network 132. Management stations 134 maybe servers, personal computers, mobile devices, or any other device withnetwork connectivity.

In operation, managed system 100 is a systems management hardware andsoftware solution that provides remote management capabilities, crashedsystem recovery, and power control functions for IHS 102. Morespecifically, in managed system 100, IHS 102 hosts an operating systemtasked with executing applications and management controller 124provides out-of-band management facilities for IHS 102. Managementcontroller 124 functions as a separate microcontroller in IHS 102,providing a dedicated management channel for maintenance and control ofresources. Preferably, management controller 124 is powered at all timesand is thus available in-band when an operating system hosted on IHS 102is running and also available out-of-band when IHS 102 is powered downor has no network connectivity through NIC 114. A core function ofmanagement controller 124 is the collection of data from a variety ofsensors within chassis 130. For example, management controller 124 maycollect hardware operational data such as temperature, fan speed,current, voltage, memory status, and make this data available to managedsystem 100. Further, management stations 134 in managed system 100 allowsystem administrators to remotely manage, monitor, troubleshoot,remediate, and upgrade IHS 102, independent of the operating systemstatus.

Management information, such as network identification data and theabove mentioned sensor data, may be communicated between the operatingsystem hosted by IHS 102 and management controller 124 via a pluralityof internal channels, such as the NC-SI bus 126 (OS-BMC Pass-through),the KCS interface bus 127, and the serial bus 128. In the case of theOS-BMC Pass-through, packets sent to the LOM 120 from the chipset 106are monitored by a management module executing on LOM 120 to identify adestination address associated with the management controller 124, andthen switched to proceed to the management controller without proceedingthrough the external network 132. U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/706,085, entitled “System and Method for Communication Between anInformation Handling System and Management Controller Through a SharedLOM,” discloses further aspects of the OS-BMC Pass-through and is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. These internal communicationpaths will be discussed in greater detail below.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of various communication paths inthe managed system 100 of FIG. 1. Remote management of IHS 102 inmanaged system 100 is accomplished through a variety of communicationpaths, both internal to IHS 102 and external to IHS 102. First, FIG. 2illustrates a number of internal communication paths between managementcontroller 124 and an operating system 150 hosted on IHS 102. Operatingsystem 150 is stored on storage 108 (FIG. 1) and executed by CPU 104(FIG. 1). Operating system 150 may be any number of operating systemsincluding Microsoft Windows, Linux, and VMWare ESXi. To capture systemevents, errors, and other information, operating system 150 maintains anOS log 152. For example, Windows captures system events in a WindowsEvent Log and Unix-based systems capture events in a syslog. Similarly,management controller 124 maintains a MC log 154 to store both hardwareoperational data and configuration data about IHS 102, includingoperating system name and version and network hostname. MC log 154 maybe a single file or a plurality of files stored in the non-volatilestorage (NVRAM) associated with the management controller 124.

In IHS 102, communication between operating system 150 and managementcontroller 124 is direct. That is, management information passed betweenthe two is routed through established channels without the use of anintermediate agent installed in the operating system environment. Thisnative bi-directional communication passes through any of the NC-SI bus126 (OS-BMC Pass-through), the KCS interface bus 127, and the serial bus128, and is implemented using standard protocols typically implementedin a modern information handling system. For instance, the operatingsystem 150 and management controller 124 may communicate using anIntelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) channel 156 routed overthe KCS interface bus 127 or over the OS-BMC Pass-through. Directcommunication between the operating system 150 and management controller124 may also be implemented over an Advanced Configuration and PowerInterface (ACPI) channel 158 routed through BIOS 118 and serial bus 128.In the ACPI channel 158, the operating system 150 communicates with BIOS118, and BIOS 118, in turn, communicates with management controller 124via serial bus 128. In an alternative embodiment, BIOS 118 maycommunicate with management controller 124 via a KCS bus or through ashared memory. Further, operating system 150 and management controller124 may communicate through a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)channel 160 over the OS-BMC Pass-through. Both the operating system 150and management controller 124 natively support communication througheach of these channels, and thus, no agent is needed on top of operatingsystem 150 to facilitate communication between the two, as is known inconventional systems. For instance, operating system 150 may directlyreceive a notification of a hardware failure from the managementcontroller 124 over the ACPI channel 158 and subsequently log the eventin the OS log 152. In this example, there is no need for an OS-presentagent to periodically poll the management controller 124 for hardwarefaults, as is known in conventional systems. While a number ofcommunication channels have been described, one of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that IHS 102 may contain additional an/or differenttypes of communication channels through which native bi-directionalcommunication may take place. (Note, that in the context of thisdisclosure, the term “agent” refers to a software program that executesin the operating system environment but is not part of the operatingsystem itself. For example, an “agent” may be a software programdeveloped by a third party and installed after an operating system hasbeen deployed on an IHS. Furthermore, in an embodiment, an “agentless”or “native” communication path, as used herein, may include an agentinternally implemented in an operating system. For instance, theMicrosoft Windows operating system internally implements a SNMP servicethat includes an SNMP agent. Such an internal agent is “native” toWindows and may not be considered an “agent”.)

Management information passed between the operating system 150 andmanagement controller 124 may also be available to system administratorsusing management consoles on management stations 134. Depending on whattype of task needs to be performed, a system administrator may remotelyconnect to IHS 102 using different types of management consoles. Forexample, management controller 124 may expose an MC management console162 for remote administration of management controller 124 and remoteaccess to MC log 154. The MC management console 162 may be a web-basedconsole or may be a simple command line interface. On the other hand, asystems administrator may remotely manage IHS 102 through an OSmanagement console 164 that takes advantage of a systems managementstack exposed by the operating system 150, such as WS-MAN on Unix-basedsystems or WMI on Windows-based systems. Further, a 1:n managementconsole may simultaneously connect to the in-band channel (throughoperating system 150) and the out-of-band channel (through managementcontroller 124), and aggregate information received from both channels.

A benefit to agentless bi-directional communication is that managementinformation traditionally available only through the MC managementconsole 162 is available through the OS management console 164. That is,management controller 124 can directly push management information up tothe operating system 150 so it can then expose it using a managementstack such as WS-MAN. Similarly, management information traditionallyavailable only through the OS management console 164 is availablethrough the MC management console 162. In this manner, a systemadministrator connected through either MC management console 162 or OSmanagement console 164 has a more complete picture of the status of IHS102. In conventional systems, a system administrator has to rely on anagent installed in the operating system to collect this managementinformation and make it available to remote management consoles. Also,in conventional systems, critical operating system information may notbe available to a management console connected to the managementcontroller.

Using agentless communication channels 156, 158, and 160, the operatingsystem 150 and management controller 124 bi-directionally pass a varietyof management information. For example, the operating system 150 maytransmit the operating system name, version, and network managementinformation to the management controller 124. The network managementinformation may include host name, IP address, MAC address, and anyVirtual Local Area Network (VLAN) identifiers. Upon receiving themanagement information, the management controller 124 may store it inthe MC log 154 so as to make it available to remotely connected MCmanagement console 162. Further, the operating system 150 may nativelyimplement a heartbeat application that periodically sends managementcontroller 124 a data packet over any of the agentless communicationchannels 156, 158, and 160. If management controller 124 ceasesreceiving a periodic heartbeat (an indication that operating system 150may have crashed) it can take appropriate recovery action. In anembodiment, this action may include sending an alert to a remote consolesuch as MC management console 162. In an alternative embodiment, thisaction may include rebooting (power-cycling) the IHS 102. Inconventional systems, an agent installed in the operating systemenvironment implements this heartbeat functionality. The operatingsystem 150 may additionally send any other information to the managementcontroller 124 that may be helpful in the administration of IHS 102.

Management controller 124 transmits the following management informationto operating system 150 via agentless communication channels 156, 158,and 160. First, the management controller 124 makes available its IPaddress so system administrators connected to IHS 102 through OSmanagement console 164 are aware that an out-of-band controller isinstalled in IHS 102. Along with its IP address, management controller124 may transmit to the operating system 150 the URL of its MCmanagement console 162. Further, drawing from the data collected byhardware sensors, management controller 124 may also directly sendoperating system 150 management information related to the physicalhealth of the IHS 102. Operating system 150 may then expose thisinformation to the OS management console 164, enabling the console todisplay a global health indicator to system administrators. Inconventional systems, operating systems do not have direct access to IHShealth information, and thus cannot expose it to management consoles.Instead, operating systems rely upon third-party agents to collecthealth information from the management controller. Further, themanagement console 124 may send operating system 150 information about aservice tag attached to IHS 102. Any 1:n management consoles thatconnect to both the in-band and out-of-band channels of IHS 102 may usethe service tag information to correlate information received througheach. Finally, management controller 124 may asynchronously providehardware fault information to operating system 150, so that operatingsystem 150 can populate the OS log 152. The OS management console 164may then scrape the OS log 152 to retrieve this information for display.In one embodiment, the management controller 124 minimally provides<timestamp>, <severity>, and <description> to the operating system 150in the case of a hardware fault. In alternative embodiments, managementcontroller 124 may directly log hardware failures in the OS log 152through the use of WMI or WS-MAN calls, without the need for customoperating system code. The management controller 124 may additionallysend any other information to the operating system 150 that may behelpful in the administration of IHS 102, including hardware inventory,configuration data, and power information.

FIG. 3 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method 170 of logging ahardware failure in the managed system 100. Method 170 begins at block172 where the management controller 124 monitors the hardware componentsof IHS 102 by collecting data from a multitude of internal sensors. Atblock 174, it is determined whether a hardware failure has been detectedbased on the sensor data. If no failure has been detected, method 170returns to block 172 where management controller 124 continues tomonitor. If a failure is detected, method 170 proceeds to block 176where management controller 124 sends an SNMP trap directly to theoperating system 150 via the SNMP channel 160 (OS-BMC Pass-through). TheSNMP trap contains a description of the hardware fault. Managementcontroller 124 sends the SNMP trap to the operating system 150asynchronously—that is, without being prompted to do so by the operatingsystem or an agent running in the operating system environment, as isknown in conventional systems. At this block, management controller 124may also log the hardware failure 124 to its MC log 154. Then, in block178, the operating system 150 natively receives the SNMP trap and logsthe hardware failure to the OS log 152. Once the fault has been recordedin the OS log 152, the OS management console 164 may access theinformation for display to system administrators.

FIG. 4 is a high-level flowchart illustrating an alternative method oflogging a hardware failure in the managed system 100. Blocks 182 and 184are similar to blocks 172 and 174 in FIG. 3 and will not be discussedagain. After a failure has been detected in block 184, method 180proceeds to block 186 where management controller 124 asynchronouslysends a system control interrupt (SCI) directly to the operating system150 via the ACPI channel 158. Alternatively, the management controller124 may asynchronously send a system management interrupt (SMI) over anagentless channel to alert the operating system 150 of a hardwarefailure. At this block, management controller 124 logs the hardwarefailure to its MC log 154. Then, in block 188, after being alerted of ahardware failure, the operating system 150 natively retrieves thehardware fault info from the MC log 154 through the agentless IPMIchannel 156. Finally, in block 190, the operating system 150 logs thehardware failure to the OS log 152, thereby exposing the fault to the OSmanagement console 162. In conventional systems, the managementcontroller, after detecting an hardware abnormality, simply logs thefault in its log. A period of time may pass before an agent installed inthe operating system polls the management controller log and discoversthe fault.

FIG. 5 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method 200 of updatingoperating system network information in the managed system 100. Method200 begins at block 202 where the operating system 150, upon bootup andinitialization, sends its network identification information directly tomanagement controller 124. The operating system network identificationinformation may include DNS hostname, IP address, MAC address, and VLANidentifiers. Upon receipt, management controller 124 stores theinformation in MC log 154 or other non-volatile storage. At block 204,it is determined whether the operating system network identificationinformation has changed since bootup. If the information has notchanged, then method 200 stays at block 204. If the information haschanged, then method 200 proceeds to block 206 where the operatingsystem 150 asynchronously sends the updated network information directlyto the management controller 124 via any of agentless communicationschannels 156, 158, or 160. Then, in block 208, the management controller124 updates the previously stored operating system networkidentification information in the MC log 154 or other non-volatilestorage. Once the operating system information has been updated inmanagement controller 124, the MC management console 162 may access theinformation for display to system administrators. In conventionalsystems without native, bi-directional communication between theoperating system and management controller, operating system networkinformation is available only to management consoles connected to theoperating system.

Thus a system and method for direct bi-directional communication betweenan operating system and an management controller without the use of anintermediate agent has been described. In an embodiment, the system andmethod described herein provides at least the following benefits overconventional systems: the elimination of the need for operating-specificagents to be written, deployed, and updated; the absence of an agentcontinually executing in the operating system saves processor cycles;asynchronous notification of hardware abnormalities by the managementcontroller to the operating system reduces system down time; andimportant operating system information is readily available through amanagement console remotely connected to the management controller.

Although illustrative embodiments have been shown and described, a widerange of modification, change and substitution is contemplated in theforegoing disclosure and in some instances, some features of theembodiments may be employed without a corresponding use of otherfeatures. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims beconstrued broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of theembodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication system, comprising: a managementcontroller; and a storage device storing an operating system; aprocessing system coupled to the management controller through acommunication channel, wherein the processing system is operable toexecute the operating system to directly communicate with the managementcontroller free of an intermediate agent by: asynchronously sendingmanagement information to the management controller over thecommunication channel; and asynchronously receiving managementinformation from the management controller over the communicationchannel.
 2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the managementinformation asynchronously sent by operating system includes at leastone of an operating system name, an operating system version, andnetwork management information.
 3. The communication system of claim 2,wherein the network management information includes at least one of ahost name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Media Access Control(MAC) address, and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN).
 4. Thecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the management informationasynchronously received by the operating system includes at least one ofa management controller IP address, a management controller UniversalResource Locator (URL), health information, a service tag, and hardwarefault information.
 5. The communication system of claim 4, wherein theoperating system is operable to expose the health information to anoperating system management console over a network.
 6. The communicationsystem of claim 4, wherein the hardware fault information includes analert of a hardware fault and, in response to receiving the alert of thehardware fault, the operating system is operable to natively retrievehardware fault details over the communications channel from a managementcontroller log of the management controller.
 7. The communication systemof claim 1, wherein the management information asynchronously sent byoperating system includes a periodic heartbeat.
 8. An informationhandling system (IHS), comprising: a chassis; a processing system housedin the chassis; and a storage system housed in the chassis and coupledto the processing system; wherein the processing system and the storagesystem are operable to provide an operating system and a managementcontroller that directly communicate through a communication channelfree of an intermediate agent to provide for the asynchronous sendingand receiving of management information between the operating system andthe management controller over the communication channel.
 9. Theinformation handling system of claim 8, wherein the managementinformation asynchronously sent by operating system includes at leastone of an operating system name, an operating system version, andnetwork management information.
 10. The information handling system ofclaim 9, wherein the network management information includes at leastone of a host name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Media AccessControl (MAC) address, and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN).
 11. Theinformation handling system of claim 8, wherein the managementinformation asynchronously received by the operating system includes atleast one of a management controller IP address, a management controllerUniversal Resource Locator (URL), health information, a service tag, andhardware fault information.
 12. The information handling system of claim11, wherein the operating system is operable to expose the healthinformation to an operating system management console over a network.13. The information handling system of claim 11, wherein the hardwarefault information includes an alert of a hardware fault and, in responseto receiving the alert of the hardware fault, the operating system isoperable to natively retrieve hardware fault over the communicationschannel details from a management controller log of the managementcontroller.
 14. The information handling system of claim 8, wherein themanagement information asynchronously sent by operating system includesa periodic heartbeat.
 15. A method for managing an information handlingsystem (IHS), the method comprising: hosting an operating system by aninformation handling system that includes a management controller;providing direct communication between the operating system and themanagement controller, free of an intermediate agent, by: asynchronouslysending management information from the operating system directly to amanagement controller through a communication channel; andasynchronously receiving management information at the operating systemdirectly from the management controller over the communication channel.16. The method of claim 15, wherein the management informationasynchronously sent by operating system includes at least one of anoperating system name, an operating system version, and networkmanagement information.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the networkmanagement information includes at least one of a host name, an InternetProtocol (IP) address, a Media Access Control (MAC) address, and aVirtual Local Area Network (VLAN).
 18. The method of claim 15, whereinthe management information asynchronously received by the operatingsystem includes at least one of a management controller IP address, amanagement controller Universal Resource Locator (URL), healthinformation, a service tag, and hardware fault information.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, wherein the operating system is operable to exposethe health information to an operating system management console over anetwork.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein the management informationasynchronously sent by operating system includes a periodic heartbeat.